New Start

Procrastination is the thief of time; don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today! For many years I have followed the school of thought that when it’s winter, you need some extra layers of padding, (okay, fat!) to keep you warm, and as February slides into March, I’m getting bigger and my clothes are getting tinier! (I’ve discovered that calories are the greedy little blighters that get into your wardrobe during the night and eat into your clothes, making them smaller!)

As I mentioned in my last post I have got rid of all the stuff I bought in case we had weird visitors who actually like dates, and I’ve had a good sort out of the fridge, freezer and cupboards. But in order to focus on my new start I’ve also had a spring clean of my wardrobe and drawers. I’ve placed all my lovely summer dresses to one side so that I can look at them and visualise myself in them come July when we go to Italy and have taken a horrific ‘before’ picture of myself that I can look at when I’m tempted by something stodgy! That pic will only get shared when I feel more comfortable with myself and will keep me motivated during these long, cold nights.

But I don’t want this New Year to be a new start just for myself. I want my family to benefit as well. I’ve had a few nasty health scares over the last year and I want to be around for a long, long time with the people I love. As well as eating healthily and cutting down on alcohol, I want to make sure we have a secure financial future. I have exciting plans for this year and have learned a super way of making extra money and so this new start also involves spending my time wisely. I will no longer be wasting time on things like Facebook, being nosy about what my acquaintances are doing with their lives; I will focus on the lives of those who are important to me.

I went up into our spare bedroom yesterday, (amusingly known as ‘the office,’) and made myself a mood board. This is just a collection of images as to how I want our lives to develop in this coming year. I’m a great believer in the Laws of Attraction. Looking at pictures and really, truly, feeling yourself being in the place you want to be can have a great effect of actually drawing that closer and closer to you, and finally becoming your reality. So if you would also like to focus on this being a new start for you, just try it. Even if you don’t have pics you can look at, make a list of things you want to achieve and look at it every day. This could be something as simple as vowing to stop buying ready-made sandwiches for your lunch at work and making the time to do your own the evening before.

You might be surprised at how much money that could actually save you and just to keep the motivation going, put the £2 or so that you will save, into a jar and then add it up at the end of February. What could you do with that saved money? Plan your holiday? Buy some new clothes for the kids?

In my next post I will look at ‘New You’ and show you how you can lose weight while still eating healthy and nutritious meals intended for the family, and not by going on some faddy diet.